8

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

Historically, local self-government is the oldest

representative institution in Indian democracy. Their origins
in modern India go back to the later nineteenth century when
Lord Mayo's Resolution of 1870 and especially Lord Ripon's
Resolution 1882 led to the establishment of the first
municipalities in urban India and district boards and lower
councils in rural jurisdictions. One may even go back to
hoary past and refer to the earliest political organizations of
the Vedic people called sabha, samiti, vidatha mentioned in
the Rig Veda, the earliest of the Vedas; and in the period that
followed we may refer to the janapadas and mahajanapadas,
sanghas and ganasanghas mentioned in the later-Vedic and
Buddhist texts before the emergence of the first, fuller
monarchical state in pre-Mauryan Magadha around the time
of Gautanm Buddha (B.C. 566-486) (Romila Thapar 1984).
The foregoing pre-state social formations were all that there
was in the name of governance without the adjectives like
local, regional, and central. In early and later medieval South
India local political institutions like sabhas (in brahman
nagarams (traders
villages), urs (peasant villages), and
guilds) existed under the Chola and Vijayanagara states
by
(Burton Stein 1985). Medieval Indian States founded
Muslimn rulers in north India appear to have left their Hindu
by their
subjects, especially in rural areas, to be self-governedminimal
a
local community-based caste panchayats under
 MO
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
133
nevenue-collecting and peace
and
The British local self-governing order local administration.
institutions in the first half
of the twentieth century were
given responsibility of
managing primary education and health, local roads and
hasic civic services for the local area
communities. Municipal
corporations and rural district boards also
subsequently
turned into the training ground for major provincial
and
national leaders.
The Post-Independence structures of local sub
government in both the rural and urban settings,
despite
claims to the contrary, are more a continuation of the British
Indian patterns than radical departures. This is so both in
terms of structures and functions granted to these bodies.
In the urban sector the local bodies owe their legal existence
to two sets of legislative enactments, namely, somne central
or provincial acts dating back to the British Raj and some
state acts enacted in independent India. AIIthese are now,
of course, subject to the State List in the seventh schedule of
the 1950 constitution. The examples are Madras Corporation
Act (1688), Calcutta Corporation Act (1690), Bombay
Corporation Act (1888), Nagpur Corporation Act (1948),
Delhi Municipal Corporation Act (1957), Bombay Provincial
Corporation Act (1949), Gujarat Municipalities Act (1964),
Patna Municipal Corporation Act (1951), U.P. Municipal
Corporation Act (1959), Bihar Municipal Act (1922),
Hyderabad Municipal Act (1933) etc., all subsequently
a very
amended. City governmnents in India have had
uneven working ranging from mere survival to supercession
by state government
Since the 74th constitutional amendment (1992/93),
three kinds of municipal bodies are provided for in the
Constitution (part IX A, article 243, P-ZF), which the state
legislatures are prompted to enact in their jurisdictions, and
they have in fact done so with some variations. These Nagar
Raj institutions (NRIs) are Municipal Corporations for larger
 134 INDIAN FEDERALISM: AN INTRODUCTION

urban areas, Municipal Councils for smaller urban areas and

Nagar Panchayats for rural-urban transitional areas. This
uniform all-India structure prescribed by a constitutional
tramework replaced the pre-existing urban bodies like
Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Town Area
Committees, and Notified Area Committees.
The rural local self-governing institutions of the British
District
period comprising Local Boards, Union Boards, aand
Boards, were replaced by the late 1950s by three-tier
structure under various state legislations consisting of Gram
(village) Panchayats at the base, Mandal or Taluqa Panchayat
in the middle, and Zila Panchayat at the higher district level.
The newly created Block or Mandal below the sub-district
level, called subdivision, took the local administration
further down the line closer to the village. The three-tier
structure recommended by the Balwantrai Mehta Review
Committee (1957) had since continued in most states,
disregarding the recommendation for the two-tier structure
at the Mandal and District levels made by the Ashok Mehta
Review Committee (1977). The post-74th amendment state
laws also conform to the three-tier structure nowW sanctified
by the Constitution, with rare exceptions where two tier
structures still exist.
The twin structures of urban and rural local self
governing institutions existed in splendid isolation from
each other with no inter-connection before the 1992/93
constitutional amendments. There are few, if any, since then.
Two such exceptions are the distinct and metropolitan
planning committees provided for in articles 243ZD and
243ZE added to the constitution by the 73rd and 74th
amendments. The district planning committee is meant
to consolidate the plans prepared by the
Panchayats and the
Municipalities in the district and prepare a draft development
plan for the district as a whole.
 LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
135
Similarly, the Metropolitan
Planning Committee
prepare a draft development plan is "to
whole." The composition
for the Metropolitan area
as a of these
state legislatures
laws made by subject to the framework
constitutional provisions that not less
than 4/5ths of the
members of the district planning
committee and not less
than 2/3rds of
the members of the metropolitan planning
committee shall be elected indirectly. The elective members
of the district planning committee are to be chosen from
amongst the elected members of the Panchayats at the
district level and of the Municipalities in the district in
proportions to the rural and urban populations in the district.
The elective members of the metropolitan planning
committee are selected from amongst the elected members
of the municipalities and chairpersons of the Panchayats in
the metropolitan area in proportion to ratio between the
population of the municipalities and of the panchayats in
that area.
Another notable structural point here are is that whereas
interactively
the three tiers of Panchayat Raj institutions
institutions in the
interlocked, the three kinds of Nagar Raj
constituted from each other. Every
urban areas are separately a duration of five
or constituted for
Panchayat is elected directly elected by the
years, with the ones at the base being
constituencies, and those at the
illagers in territorial levels being largely filled in by
intermediate and, district the elected members
amongst
indirect election by and from immediately below them.
Or the Panchayats at
the level Legislature
Members of State
Members of parliament and
a

falling wholly or partly in

representing constituencies members of the Panchayats at
area are ex-officio elected
lchayat However, only
intermediate and district levels.Panchayats at various levels
of Panchayats.
members and chairpersonsO meetings of the
have the right to vote in the NRIs are
not.
whereas
Thus, PRIs are hierarchical,
 INTRODUCTION
136 INDIAN PEDERALISM: AN

enjoys mnore autonomy than any

Municipal Corporation
or PRIs. It has power to deal directly with the
other NRIs bodies-urban or
state government whereas other local
the District Collector or
rural--are primarily placed under
Divisional Commissioner. corporations comprise
Structurally, municipalities and
executive components. The deliberative
deliberative and its standing committee.
components include the Council,
The executive component consists of the
and the Mayor. Deputy/A ssistant Municipal
Municipal Commissioner, and subordinate
Commissioner, the Municipal Engineer,
administrative staff. The Council
consists of (a) directly
proportional to the size of population of
elected members a period varying between
the territorial area concerned for
years, and (b) nominated members chosen
three and five knowledge or expertise
by the elected courncilors for special
in municipal administration. for two years by
The Mayor, who was earlier elected elected from the
directly
the councilors, is now generally years. The Speaker
municipal area by the people for five
Mayor must keep the confidence of the Council.
and the a non-confidence motion
They can be normally removed by councilors
supported by a majority of 2/3rds of the elected more than
present and voting, which must also comnprise somne
half of the total number of elected councilors. In
Municipal Corporations the Mayor is still elected by the
year,
Councilors from amongst themselves for a term of one
with a provision for re-election if desired.
There have been three models of city corporation
government in India:
(a) The Commissioner System
(b) The Council-Manager System, and
f
(c) The Mayor-in-Council model.s
The first is the oldest owing its existence to the Britst
Raj. The Commissioner is the chief-executive officer of the
 O
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
137
Corporation appointed by the state
governnment, while the
Mayor is a figurehead indirectly elected
by the councilors
tea renewable one-year term. The second
he Mayor-led executive accountable tomodel makes
the elected
councilors. In this model the Mayor
is directly elected by
the people for a longer term.
The Municipal Commissioner
is the chief administrative
officer under the political directive
of the Mayor as a manager of the council.
The Third model,
Mayor-in-Council form of city government, was
introduced
in Kolkata in 1984. It
grew out of local government
idealism with a view to making
tygovernment really local self-governing, fully responsible
and accountable to the people. It can better be described as
Cabinet government that replicates the political system as its
operates at the state and national levels. It supports union or
integration with cabinet in the form of the Mayor-in-Council
drawn from the Corporation or Council and accountable and
responsible to it. The system therefore provides the much
needed plural political leadership, coordination of policy and
administration and a clear focus of responsibility (UN,
FSCAP: Human of Settlements: Country Paper: India, 2009),

The council operates through various statutory and

non-statutory committees, dealing with various subject
matters, the most significant among them being the Starnding
Committee consisting of elected members numbering
between seven and sixteen chosen through proportional
representation of the councilors.

Panchayat Raj
laParishads enjoy greater autonomy and fünctional space
than any other PRIs. Although the full implementation of
process, studies
the 73rd constitutional amendment is still in
Or
PRÍs in
some states are not optimistic about this
on the basis of
experiment in democratic decentralization
Pradesh
tealities on the ground. A paired :study of Andhra
138 INDIAN FEDERALISM: AN INTRODUCTION

(AP), and Madhya Pradesh (MP), for example, refers to "the

brief and ultimately unsuccessful attempts [of] the AP Gram
Panchayat Amendment Act in 1976 to reduce the power of
the District Collector" and underlines "the continuing
domination of the non-elected bureaucracy [as] an enduring
theme in AP's decentralization process" (Craig Johnson.
2003: 36),* A.P. was yet to legislate the District Planning
Committee envisaged in the 73rd amendment. MP introduced
District Planning Committees in 1999 under the MP District
Plarning Committee Act that includes the Zila Parishad
Chairman, District Collector, a pre-determined number of
scheduled representatives, MPs and MLAs rom the district
as "special invitees, and elected Zila Parishad members who
constitute four-fifths of the entire District Planning
Committee. This committee is required to be chaired by a
State Minister. Johnson (2003: 40) observes:
Such high-level' participation within the DPC and the large
discretionary powers that still rest with the state government
have prompted some analysts to conclude that DPCs actually
constitute a threat to PRIs]... Others... have argued that
district government in MP is laudable but one that lacks the
technical and administrative ability to
plan and implement
the responsibilities now devolved to the DPCs.

The second Administrative Reforms Commission

(ARC) has recommended the operationalization
of the idea
of District Government (DG) in the
rural sector whicn
envisages the eventual abolition of the post
Collector. In the interim of District
period it suggests
a dual role for him as
head of administration and secretary
of the DG, presumably to allowa breathing
to take roots (Abhijit Datta period to the D
2009: 3-4).6
Abhijit
Datta's (2009: 9-12)' survey
of literature on DG
in South Asia brings out
or Nirmal
Mukarji-Kerala Model,four models: (a) Exclusive Pradesh
(b) Planing or Madhya
 Otut, LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
139
Model, (c)
Federative or Pakistan Model,
Eederative-Unitary or Second ARC and (d)Mixed
Model. Nirmal Mukarji
visualizes
devolution of all district-based state
activities to the DG,
including the police, land administration
and other economic
and social services (Datta 2009: 9).8

The Kerala Administrative Reforms Committee

headed
hy EMS Namboodiripad (1957) recommended a
system of directly elected Village Panchyats at two-tier
the Village
level and district councils "with wide executive furnctions
in the form of a DG" to be realized in a phased way. The
proposed 1958 bill was stalled due to the central dismissal
of the Communist Party of India government in the state
(Datta 2009: 10). The Madhya Pradesh District Planning
Model introduced by the Congress government in the state
vested most of the powers of elected Panchayats and
municipal bodies in the district planning Committees, which
were to work under the directions from the state government.

successor
The system was abolished in 2003 by the
2009:
Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State (Datta are
10).° In the Pakistan model introduced in
2001 there
at the intermediate
villages at the primary Union level, but
aggregating
level at tehsil there is rural-urban unification municipal
into tehsil
smaller municipalities in a rural district
Integrated model stops there. In Karachi, a
administration. structure comprising
metropolis, there is again a trifurcated
municipal administration, and the Union
the city DG, the in the
(Datta 2009: 3 and 11)," And, finally,
administration Second Administrative
mooted by the
mixed Indian model on Local Governance)
(6h Report
Reforms Commission government and unitary
"federative" district
(2007) there is
urban sectors (Datta 2009:9
local governments in
rural and
& 11),"
 140 INDIAN FEDERALISM: AN INTRODUCTION

The 73d and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts (1992)

The foregoing discussion has referred to these amendments
rather frequently, as they represent a watershed inthe history
may now take a
of local seelf-government in India. We closer
and holistic look at this attempt at "constitutionalizing" what
was earlier entirely subject to state legislative statutes.
on
Following these amendments there has beena tendency
emergence of mult.
the part of analysts to talk in terms of the on this
level federalism in the country. We will comment
later
supposed "constitutonalization",and "federalization"
on the descriptive
First, what have these amendments done
plane? amendments
First, as already mentioned above, the
frameworks
have sought to bring about uniform all-India
though
of rural and urban local self-governing institutions,
state
the expected conformity laws enacted by various
legislatures have still left considerable internal variations.
Secondly, the constitútional framework requires (a)
reservation of rotational elective seats in every panchayat
in
and municipal council for scheduled castes/tribes area,
proportion to their sizes in the total population of the
(b) reservation of at least one-third of such reserved seats
for women in these communities, and (c) reservation of at
least one-third of the total seats (including the number ot
seats reserved for scheduled castes/tribes) for women. The
offices of chairpersons of Panchayat and Municipal councils
are also to be reserved for scheduled castes/tribes and
women in such a manner as a state legislative law may
prescribe, Thirdly, the constitution also seeks to ensure the
five-yearly elections to the local bodies and provides for a
State Election Commission for this purpose for the first time
in the history of independent India. Fourthly, powers,
authority, and responsibilities of the local
bodies are spelled
out in the constitution. The eleventh schedule
andthe twelfth schedule with 18 entries are with entries
29
also added to
 LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 141

the constitution for this purpose in respect of panchayats

and municipal bodies. Certain taxation powers are
recommended for these rural and urban local authorities
under conformity state statutes. Finally, besides the Union
Finance Commission, a five-yearly State Finance
Commission is also constitutionally mandated specially for
the local bodies to study their financial requirement and
make appropriate recommendations to the state
government. Most conformity laws with some inter-state
variations and gaps between the constitutional framework
states. For
and state statutes are already in place in various
all
example, there is hardly any state law that has devolved
local bodies
the 29 and 18 jurisdictions to the rural and urban
in the contry.
elections and
2 Nonetheless, there is a greater regularity of
governments and
fiscal transfers from the state and Union more
municipal bodies, are now likely to be
panchayats and
welfare schemes of the higher
involved in developmental and
governments than in the past. Even then, these
orders of of the governments
by the tendency
bodies are still affected political or bureaucratic
organizations with
toset up parallel or competing with the local bodies.r
strings bypassing decentralization in India is
political
The question of problem of poverty alleviation
closely entangled with the country's feudal past and
view of the
and power sharing in inequalities. A comprehensive study
continuing cumulative has underlined three factors
decentralization panchayats:
of panchayat autonomy of rural
that have undermined
the
middle-heavy federal power
and power
(a) India's top-heavy to popular
(b) a bureaucracy resistantPanchayats. There is still
Structure, elite-capture of the power structure more
Sharing, and (c) political
go to make the interests of groups
a
long way to accountable to the process (Craig
and
responsive marginalized by local political
traditionally
Johnson 2003).2i: 24
142 INDIAN FEDERALISM: AN
INTRODUCTION

The scernario of urban governance is not different, if

more alarming and complex. The historical only
duality of Indian
cities in terms of the city of the rich and the city of the poor
continues unabated. Unplanned migrations to all parts of
the cities threaten to choke whatever spaces and services
are available. "Imagin a puppet," one observer says,
whose strings are being pulled by different puppeteers: the
hands by one, the legs by another, the head and shoulders by
a third. Sitting in the audience, the show would not look
pretty. The city governance in India is similar, being pulled
and pushed in different directions - sometimes even torn
apart - by a chaotic urban administrative set-up (quoted in
Mayraj Fahim 2009:2), 13

a bewildering
The city governance is done by
multiplicity of authorities--governmental, civic,
developmental, functional, and so on, who seldom
cOordinate their activities. The Government of India have
initiated several urban development programmes, including
the Jawaharlal National Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM)
since 2005 comprising two broad segments, i.e. (a) the
mission on urban infrastructure and governance, and (b)
the mission on basic services to the urban poor covering 63
identified (mega, metro, capital and cities of heritage and are
historical importance). The rest of the cities and towns
covered under Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme
for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) and Integrated
Housing and Slum Development Programmeso (IHSDP).
JNURM is the largest ever initiative launched far to be
seven years (2005-2012). But it cannot be over
completed in
are central to the
emphasized that goverrnance reforms
success of such ambitious programmes of urban renewal.
go.
Here again we have yet a long way
To return to the question of "constitutionalization" and
"federalization" of the local political systems, these claims
appear to be more rhetorical than real. For one thing
would
 LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 143

the 73rd and constitutional amendments are in the nature

a
of model acts that need conformity legislation at the state
level to be constitutionally and legally binding for the simple
reason that local self-government is an exclusive state
subject. The force behind these amendments is moral, and
perhaps semi-judicial at the best. For another, for the
foregoing reasons these amendments are in reality
devolutionary rather than federal. To acquire semi-federative
aura these amendments must be reinforced by a powerful
movemernt of popular sovereignty at the local-level politics.

References University
1. Thapar, Romila, From Lineage to State, Bombay, Oxford
Press, 1984.
Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India,
2. Stein, Burton,
Delhi,Oxford University Press, 1980.
3. UN, ESCAP: Human Settlements: Country Paper: India, http:l/
www/unrcap.org/hüset/lgstudy/country/india/india.html,
2009, accused on 8.8.2009.
"Decerntralization in India: Poverty, Politics and
4. Johnson, Craig, Development
Panchayati Raj", Working Paper 199, Overseas
0
Institute, London, February 2003. i
5. Ibid.
Government in Pakistan and Proposed
6. Datta, Abhijit, "District (Typescript).
Model for India," April 2009
7
Ibid.
8. Tbid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
gárries
12. Johnson, op. cit., note 4. "Local Government in Indiastill
l3. Quoted in
Fahim, Mayraj, Heritage," City Mayors:
Government,
Characteristics of its Colonial
http://www.citymayors.com/government/indiagovernment.

htm!